


Would It Kill You To Make Good Clothing Choices?

by Actual_Sleeping_Beauty



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Alex Has A Sibling (Julie and The Phantoms), Alex gets what he deserves, Alex has custody of the brain cell, Alex is a mother hen, Fluff, Gen, He keeps it in his fanny pack, Hotdog (affectionate), Julie and Luke are too similar, Luke is a hot mess, Protective Alex (Julie and The Phantoms), Reggie deserves better than his parents, Tbh all of them are disaster children, They're playing hot potato but the hot potato is Alex's jacket, Which is love and happiness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2021-01-04
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:41:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 2,879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27822448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Actual_Sleeping_Beauty/pseuds/Actual_Sleeping_Beauty
Summary: In which Alex spends far too much of his time keeping his idiots from freezing to death, because none of them ever remember to wear a jacket.This comes from the prompt listOne Hundred Ways To Say 'I Love You'. Prompt #12 is, "Take my jacket, it's cold outside," and I could just immediately see Alex wrapping his friends up in his jackets when they're cold and forget theirs, because he is an incurable mother hen.Beta'd by the inimitableWhat_Is_A_Mild_Opinion.
Relationships: Alex & Bobby | Trevor Wilson & Luke Patterson & Reggie, Alex & Julie Molina & Luke Patterson & Reggie, Alex & Luke Patterson & Reggie (Julie and The Phantoms), Alex & Luke Patterson (Julie and The Phantoms), Alex & Reggie (Julie and The Phantoms), Alex Mercer/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms)
Comments: 34
Kudos: 236





	1. Reggie

**Author's Note:**

> So for this chapter, assume Alex hasn't come out to his parents yet, they will just maybe be frustrated that he's leaving the house in the middle of the night. Also, Reggie deserves better parents than the ones he's got.

The phone ringing woke Alex, and he fumbled next to his bed to pick it up.

“Hello?” He could tell that his voice was still groggy.

“Come pick me up?” _Reggie._

“Where are you?”

“The pay phone down the street. I’m going to sit by the beach, I think. But like, by the convenience store.”

“Gotcha. I’ll be there in twenty minutes, twenty-five if my parents are in a bad mood.”

“Okay.” Alex hung up the phone and dragged his tennis shoes on his feet. He grabbed his keys off his dresser and slipped down the stairs so he didn’t wake up his little sister. His mom sat at the counter, and cocked her head in his direction when she saw him.

“I’m going to get Reggie.” She nodded, and he skidded out the door.

* * *

He parked at the convenience store and wandered down to the beach to find Reggie. The boy was sitting in the sand, wearing a black t-shirt and jeans and shivering in the dark.

“Reg?” Reggie turned his head, but didn’t say anything. Alex sat in the sand next to him. “Bad night?” He felt the sand seeping into his shoes, chilling his feet.

“They wouldn’t stop yelling.” Reggie still didn’t look at him. He stared down at his feet, and shivered even harder. Alex considered him for a moment.

“ **Take my jacket, it’s cold out here.** ” He wrapped Reggie up in his jean jacket before the other boy even had a chance to protest and pulled him in close. After a few minutes he leaned away to look Reggie in the face. “Can we go to my house? You need to warm up and sleep.” Reggie nodded and Alex stood and lifted him to his feet, and together they stumbled through the sand and the dark to Alex’s car.


	2. Luke

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luke is allergic to sleeves, and Alex has had enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This document is titled, "Alex is a mother hen" in my Google Docs.

“Dude, Luke, bro, please stop.” Luke, predictably, did not stop. He was jumping around backstage, and while his enthusiasm was infectious, it was also dangerously close to knocking over Alex’s snare. Alex caught Reggie’s eye, and the other boy pulled Luke away from the drumset. Alex went about loading his drums into the van while Reggie distracted Luke, and went to collect his friends when he finished.

Bobby was long gone, since his parents actually cared when he showed back up at his house, so the three remaining boys piled into their van and tried to settle on a place to eat. After several minutes of bickering they came to a consensus and Alex pulled away from the curb. When they finally arrived at their chosen restaurant, he glanced in the back seat to see Luke rubbing at his bare forearms.

“Luke?”

“Yeah?” Luke glanced up, and after seeing Alex’s raised eyebrow flicked his eyes away. “Don’t.”

“Okay but you’re already shivering. Where is your jacket?”

“I’m wearing it!” Luke threw his hands up with his exclamation, and Reggie let out a low chuckle. The other two had this argument at least twice a month, because Luke’s aversion to sleeves tended to make him freeze to death in the winter.

“This,” Alex said as he plucked at the shoulder of Luke’s sleeveless hoodie, “is not a jacket, it’s the reason you’re going to get hypothermia.” He shrugged out of his jean jacket, leaving him in his hoodie and a t-shirt underneath. “ **Take my jacket, it’s too cold out there for you to not have sleeves.** ”

Luke grumbled but accepted the jacket. He wrapped it around himself and stared at the sleeves that fell almost to his fingertips. He shot Alex a baleful look and said, “You’re a menace. I look like a child.”

“One, you are a child, we all are.” Reggie couldn’t contain his snort at the way Luke’s frown deepened. His friend never had been able to master looking upset, all that happened was a pout.

“Two, you’re a mess. Three, if you would bring your own jacket this wouldn’t happen, which I tell you every time you freeze your ass off. Maybe start listening.” With that, Alex stepped out of the van and the other boys followed.

Reggie pulled Luke into a side hug and said, “Don’t mind Alex, he’s just big brothering us.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just so you all know, they have been having this fight since freshman year. Neither of them ever makes any headway, and this is half the reason Alex always has a sweatshirt and a jacket. Reggie's just along for the ride.


	3. Bobby

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bobby is a dork, and Alex is taking care of his goons.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all, I am very happy with how this came out given that I have no concept of how I want Bobby to be.

“You have got to be kidding me.” Alex sat up in the dark of the studio and looked out the window to be sure he wasn’t jumping to conclusions, but sure enough his three best friends were sitting around a campfire. He climbed down from the loft and walked to the doors, taking a deep breath before throwing them open as dramatically as he could manage.

“You guys,” he started as the boys turned to look at him, “why didn’t you wake me up?” He flopped on the ground and leaned on Bobby’s legs, pouting at him. Bobby just laughed and shook his head.

“Dude,” Reggie said, catching his attention, “we did our best. You try getting you out of bed sometime.” Luke snorted and handed Alex a stick and the bag of marshmallows.

“Who wants one?” Reggie and Luke threw their hands in the air and Bobby groaned. Alex twisted around to look up at him.

“Okay so, like, I’ve already had several and I’m full so can I have just one?”

“If you’re full why am I making you one?”

“You do it better. I tried but Reg was right, I should have just waited for you. You’re the only one that can do them right.”

Alex laughed and said, “Perks of being a big brother, gentlemen. Everyone wants theirs golden brown, right?” He was met with a chorus of ‘yes’s and began to toast his friends’ marshmallows.

* * *

“Bobby, how ya doin’?” Luke and Reggie were curled up under a blanket together, but Alex could feel Bobby shivering as he leaned against his legs.

“Great!” They both knew that Alex felt Bobby’s wince at his overcompensation.

“ **Take my jacket, it's cold out here.** ” Alex handed up the jean jacket that had been sitting on the ground next to him, and Bobby accepted it, wrapping it around himself and sinking further into his chair.

“Thanks Alex, you’re the best.” Alex smiled and tucked his hands into the pocket of his hoodie, pleased with how the evening had turned out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Luke and Reggie are under the blanket because Alex only has one jacket to spare, this is my whole reasoning. Also, I have cooked many a marshmallow for people because I can do them perfectly, and I wanted to give Alex that skill.


	4. Julie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Julie suffers from similar delusions as Luke about the value of warm clothing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I'm sorry if you've been waiting for an update, I also wish my brain would produce these faster.  
> I finally get to switch to present tense now! Because we're in 2020 with Julie, or possibly 2021, instead of the 90s.  
> And yes I did have to look up California licensing laws to write this, why do you ask?

“Knock it off, Reg!” Reggie has the decency to look abashed for a second before he gets sucked back into the whirlpool that is Luke before every performance, egging him on for the heck of it.

“I’m gonna kill them.” Alex giggles; usually he’s the high-strung one, but since they’re giving a school dance another shot Julie is all wound up.

“It’ll be okay Jules. We’re all here now, so we can’t possibly have a repeat of last time.” She lets out a sigh, shaking out her shoulders.

“You’re right.”

“Guys!” Alex has to almost yell for Reggie and Luke to hear him over their rough-housing, but once they do they come stand in a huddle with Alex and Julie.

“Julie, it’s gonna be amazing!” Luke is bouncing on the balls of his feet, practically vibrating in place. Reggie puts his hand on his shoulder before the nervous energy can spread to Julie and make her feel more out of sorts.

“Phantoms on three?” Alex makes eye contact with Julie, checking that she’s okay. She nods and a smile starts to spread across her face. They all put their hands in. Alex counts them off.

“Phantoms!” Someone shoots Julie a look from backstage, but she’s accepted that she gets weird looks when she’s with the boys. Alex watches her take another deep breath. She grabs her mic and walks out on stage as Flynn introduces the band.

* * *

“Another great show!” Luke practically crows. They’re all flying high after the end of the dance, spilling noisily out of the gym and into the hallway.

“Where are we going? You’ve gotta be hungry.” Reggie is, as always, the most focused on their destination after a performance.

“Somewhere nearby. I’m not really supposed to be driving this late, but it’s okay if I’m on my way home.” The boys shake their heads. Everything is so different from when Alex first got his license.

They step outside and Julie shudders involuntarily. Alex shakes his head fondly and pulls his hoodie off. Reggie catches the movement out of the corner of his eye and breaks down laughing. Julie and Luke look around, and when Luke sees why Reggie’s laughing he crosses his arms and pouts.

“What?” Julie’s eyebrows are knitted together in a pretty good imitation of Luke’s, and as Alex watches she crosses her arms, making him and Reggie fall apart just as they had begun to collect themselves. Alex walks over and hands her the hoodie, still chuckling.

“ **Take my jacket, it’s cold out here**.”

“I’m not putting this on until you explain why you’re laughing.” She’s shivering, but she also has her jaw clenched and her foot planted.

“Alex has been forcing warm clothing on us since forever. He’s big brothering you. But also, you and Luke just made the same exact face and crossed your arms the same way.” Reggie looks pretty pleased with himself, and Luke is grumbling under his breath. Julie huffs and pulls the hoodie over her head as Alex picks up the story.

“Also, the parallels don’t stop there. You and Luke are also always cold because of your dedication to the _aesthetic_.” Julie emerges from the top of the hoodie and glances at Luke, currently wearing a tank top and beanie combo.

“Okay, that’s fair. But more importantly: who taught you what aesthetic means?”

“Willie.” Alex’s grin makes all his friends start to tease him. He keeps smiling, looking around at his band: Reggie laughing at Luke’s impression of him, Luke lightly mocking his expression, and Julie swallowed by his hoodie. These people are his family. He feels so lucky to be able to take care of them, since none of them seem capable of doing it themselves.

And if Ray raises his eyebrows when his daughter comes home wrapped in a sweatshirt that definitely isn’t hers and looks suspiciously like one that the drummer in her hologram band wears, well, maybe Alex is okay with that too. Maybe he’s hoping to add some more people to his wild, unconventional family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just find the idea of Luke and Julie having incredibly similar habits and expressions so funny, and I think Alex and Reggie would just absolutely love it. Also, Carlos knows about the boys, because he does in canon, but Ray doesn't yet. I do want to write Ray meeting the boys but it's not gonna happen in this fic, unfortunately. It just doesn't fit.
> 
> As always, I love chatting in the comments, and I'm excited to see how you all feel about the present tense narration. Thanks for reading!


	5. Carlos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carlos is disorganized, and Alex helps him out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry late Christmas! I want to apologize in advance for the angst, it was unintentional.

“Carlos, _mijo_ , it’s time to go, _vamos_!” Carlos trips down the stairs holding his baseball bag, and Alex sees Ray frown from the door. “ _Mijo_ , you’re going to need a coat, we’re going to Julie’s show after your game.”

Carlos shifts from one foot to the other and says, “So, I don’t know where my coat is, and we’re going to be late, so I think I’ll be fine.” He tries to run out the door but Ray snags his arm before he makes it.

“Find your coat. You’re going to freeze.”

“I’ll be fine.” Carlos crosses his arms and sets his feet in the exact same pose Julie takes when she’s arguing with Luke and refuses to budge. She always wins the argument, so Alex doesn’t see how Ray is going to win this one until — _oh_ , of course, the Molina children learned this stance _from_ Ray.

Alex mumbles something to himself about immovable objects and unstoppable forces while he walks into the kitchen. He tears a sheet of paper off the pad that lives on the Molina fridge, usually used for making grocery lists or telling Ray when Julie had a meeting after school or where he left his keys.

He snags one of the 17 pens Ray, Julie, and Luke have left laying around the kitchen and writes out a note: _**Take my jacket, it’s going to be cold later,** and I don’t really feel temperature. ~ Alex. _ He walks to the entryway of the house where Carlos and Ray are still standing, mirror images of one another. He drops his jacket on top of Carlos’ baseball bag, causing both Molinas to glance over and break their staring contest. He then drops the note on top of the jacket. Carlos walks over, picks it up, and reads it.

“Thanks, Alex!” He hands the note to Ray, who scans it as Carlos slips out the door. Ray looks up in the general direction he imagines Alex must be and thanks him. Alex starts to beat out a rhythm on his legs so Ray can hear him speak.

“It’s no trouble. I’m always clothing the people I care about when they don’t have something to keep them warm. Luke and Reggie say that I’m ‘big brothering’ them, whatever that means.” Ray chuckles.

“I think that’s an apt description. You had siblings?”

“Yeah, two little sisters. They’re two and three and a half years younger than me.” He pauses. “Or, I guess, they were. They’d be a few years younger than you now.” Ray smiles and looks at Alex with too much care in his eyes, and he can’t see Alex look away to get the hint to tone it down. Ray shakes his head a little.

“You would have made —” and he stops, wincing. Alex looks up and sees Ray’s eyebrows pulled together, hands twitching toward the steady beats of Alex’s. He sees the apology waiting on Ray’s tongue, kept from spilling through the air only by the thin strand of hope that Alex didn’t know the end of that sentence. Unfortunately, Alex had heard it frequently during his seventeen years of life.

“A good dad, yeah. I got that a lot.” Ray’s shoulders tense slightly, and Alex watches as he consciously relaxes them.

“I’m sorry, Alex. I didn’t mean to… To bring that up.” The beat falters for a second, then picks back up.

“It’s fine.” Ray doesn’t seem to buy it, crossing his arms and pinching his eyebrows slightly. “It’s actually kind of nice to hear again. Like, I’m still a mother hen, even when half of my friends no longer require mother hen services.” Ray chuckles at that.

“Dad!” Carlos is standing at the car yelling, and they both laugh a little.

“We have to go, but thank you again, Alex. Truly.”

“Anytime.” Ray closes the front door and Alex stops his beat, letting silence envelop the house. Letting silence envelop his home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooooo... I'm sorry. My beta finished this and looked up at me and said, "Why?"  
> And the answer to that is it came to me and spilled out onto the page and I couldn't help it. But I do think that Alex was probably told for most of his life that he would be a good dad, and I think Ray would also recognize that. I really think that's the truly tragic thing about these boys' story. They were so young when they died, they didn't have to the chance to do so many things. And, like, Bobby has a kid now, and is a good dad.  
> So anyway, sorry! We'll be back to our regularly scheduled fluff in the next chapter!


	6. Alex

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex's turn!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gosh this took me a long time. It's been bouncing around my head with slight tweaks for like, three weeks, but I always end up coming back to something like this, so here it is!

Alex knows that he’s going to catch hell as soon as he shows up for the gig, but he doesn’t expect to be catching it from Flynn. In retrospect, he probably should have anticipated her anger. She had spent a lot of time coordinating their outfits with Julie. Reggie and Luke are laughing at him, because they’re terrible friends who abandon him as soon as one of the girls gets angry.

“What was I supposed to do, let Carlos freeze? He didn’t have a jacket!” Flynn glares at him, but Julie softens.

“Sorry, Flynn, you’re on your own here.” Flynn squawks, but Julie continues over her. “He was taking care of my baby brother! I’m not condoning his actions but I also can’t be actively mad at him.” Flynn looks murderous, and if Alex weren’t already dead, and didn’t know her well enough to know that all her threats are empty, he probably would have been genuinely afraid.

As it stands, they both know her hand is played out without Julie’s support, so Flynn crosses her arms and huffs, and Alex shrugs at her apologetically. He doesn’t want to look away until she does, in case she has found some way to pay him back for messing up her carefully planned aesthetic, so when Reggie squeals and goes running past him, he doesn’t move.

“Hey, Hotdog. What’s going on here?” And at that Alex does turn, because Willie will make this better because Willie makes everything better, even disappointing Flynn. He flings his arms around his boyfriend, shoving Reggie out of the way, and then pulls back a few seconds later when his brain processes what Willie’s wearing.

“Why are you dressed like that?” Willie’s smile widens, just a smidge, and Julie giggles.

“Do you like it? I may have consulted your wardrobe team so we could match.”

“I love it. If my wardrobe team would have _informed me_ we could have maybe been all the way matching. Also Flynn wouldn’t be mad at me, which would be great.” Willie looks him over for a moment, then glances around at the rest of the band.

“What happened to your jacket?”

“I lent it to Carlos.”

“Well here, have mine. You guys have to match, it seems very important to Flynn and Julie. And, by extension, the rest of you.” And then Willie slings his jacket off and drapes it over Alex’s shoulders like football players do in movies, and Alex is just a tad overwhelmed by this whole interaction.

And then Luke starts laughing and breaks the spell. Everyone turns to look at him. He's smacking Reggie on the arm as he fights to speak through his giggles.

“Dude,” he chokes out, “Alex got Alex’d.” And then he dissolves into even more giggles, and Julie is chuckling, and Reggie is doubled over, and even Alex smiles a little. 

He leans back into his boyfriend. Willie wraps his arms around Alex’s waist and says, “Aw, Hotdog, are you the mom friend?” Alex chuckles.

“Yeah. I think I am.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please don't ask me what their shared aesthetic is, I do not know, that is why this took me so long to write. Also, I think the way I logic-ed my way into Flynn being able to see the boys is that when Julie is around the people who the boys consider family can also see them, but it only works within a certain physical radius, hence why Ray couldn't see Alex is the previous chapter.  
> I adore Willex, and I wanted this to end in a happy place, with someone else taking care of Alex for once, and while Julie and the boys do take care of him, they don't with regards to clothing, because they are all a Mess in that department.  
> Thanks for reading, I hope you have enjoyed this! I love chatting in the comments, and I would love to hear your thoughts!

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you like this! I've become obsessed with Julie and the Phantoms recently, and couldn't figure out how to start writing about it. Then I realized I just needed Alex to take care of his ridiculous friends and it would be a great entrance.
> 
> I enjoy chatting in the comments, it gives me motivation!


End file.
